Rats notes ‘n quotes: Samson gets long-awaited opportunity

Notes: Despite a tough loss, the Rats had a little joy in the locker room when they learned that RW Jerome Samson had been summoned to the Carolina Hurricanes. For Samson, who has produced 123 points in 173 career AHL games, it is his first NHL callup, and he waffled between happiness and disbelief after the game. He had one assist and added to his league-leading shot total with six in the loss. … Samson, who is the Rats’ top scorer with 13 goals and 17 assists in 38 games this season, likely will get two games with the ‘Canes. He will be replacing Eric Staal, who was granted a leave of absenced following the death of his sister-in-law, Tamara Stephenson. 26, who died Tuesday in Thunder Bay, Ontario, after a long battle with cancer. “Our thoughts and prayers are with Tanya (Staal’s wife) and Eric during this difficult time for their family,” Carolina general manager Jim Rutherford said.

D Bryan Rodney returned to the Rats lineup after missing four games because of a shoulder injury. … C Rob Hennigar (upper body), LW Michael Ryan (lower body) and LW Brad Herauf (leg) remained out of the lineup. LW Nicolas Blanchard also was scratched as he finished out his three-game suspension. His absence resulted in D Jonathan Paiement playing up front for most of the game as the Rats had only 11 healthy forwards and seven defensemen..

Scratched for the Phantoms were LW Patrick Maroon, who received a concussion in the Blanchard incident last Wednesday, along with D Sean Curry (lower leg) and C Krys Kolanos (healthy). … Cohoes native and former RPI star LW Marc Cavosie, wearing No. 23, played his first game as a Rat since Nov. 8, 2008. He assisted on Mike Angelidis’ goal that gave Albany a 3-2 lead early in the third period.

In addition to allowing a conversial tying goal, the Rats had a potential score by C Nick Dodge taken away when Phantoms goaltender Johan Backlund knocked the net off its magnets as Dodge was flying through the crease and putting the puck over the goal line. No penalty was called.

RATS COACH JEFF DANIELS

“We got ourselves in too much penalty trouble and killed the flow of the game. They came hard, Give them credit. The last minutes of the second period we were killing, and pretty much the all of the third period it felt like we were killing penalties.”

“It was tough to play 5-on-5 when we’re killing penalties. When we did play 5-on-5 they were dominant, but unfortunately we spent too much time in the box.”

On whether the game was more offensive than he’s comfortable seeing: “A lot of those chances came on power play, and most of the game was power play tonight. For the most part we were killing penalties, but we just couldn’t hang on at the end.”

On Cavosie’s return: “He’s a veteran guy. He wasn’t hesistant out there. He’s played in the league before. He made a nice play on Angie’s goal. He gave what we needed from him.”

On Rodney’s return: “Rods is back. It’s another defenseman who helps us on the power play, makes a good first pass on the breakouts. At the same time he’s a little rusty out there and needs to get a couple of games under his belt.”

PHANTOMS COACH GREG GILBERT

“We didn’t get off to a good start, and to fall behind the 8-ball with two power-play goals scored against us. When you get yourself in holes like that, you’re not going to dig out too many times. We battled back, we tie it, then the next shift we caught one from a silly little mistake down low. But the guys battled back. You’ve got to give the credit to the guys in the room. They found a way to come back and win the game.”

On the numerous penalty calls: “We couldn’t get any flow going. We were killing penalties one after another. The second period was the opposite. We were on the power play more than anything. It’s tough to get a rotation going.”

On the tying and game-winning goals: “You’re not going to score many pretty goals anymore. Very few goals are scored from the perimeter now. It’s dirty stuff that you have to get. You’ve got to be willing to pay the price to get in there and knock them in. Our last couple goals were like that. Hopefully it’s sinking in soon that if you want to be a goal scorer, you’re going to have to go into the tough area and score them now. We found a way to get a couple late in the game.”

RATS G JUSTIN PETERS

On the winning goal: “Legein came down on the right side. He faked a shot, went around, and I’m not really sure where it went.”

“I’m disappointed in letting the team down on a couple of bad goals there. The team played well enough to win. Unfortunately I was able to stop the ones for them. I’ll have to learn from it and I’ll be better next game.”

“All I can do is learn from it and just come back to work tomorrow and keep trying to get better. Hopefully I’ll be ready to next time I’m in.”

The Canes fans are extremely excited about having Sutter, Boychuk, Tlusty, Carson, Dwyer, and now Samson in the line up. We follow the Albany Rats and many of us watch the games on AHLLive. Best of luck to all the Albany Rats at Carolina, and particularly Samson on his first call up. It would be fantastic if Samson were to have a spectacular game. Whatever happens, we appreciate all the hard work, skill, and enthusiasm by the Albany Rats. Their play has been a tremendous bright spot in a disappointing season for the Hurricanes.

I expect Sutter (of course given he is a starter now), Boychuk, Tlusty, Carson, Dwyer, and hopefully Samson and Rodney to be starters for the Hurricanes next year and perhaps most of the remaining season after some trades occur.